What's loved, lives
Jun. 25th, 2019 08:46![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starladyI went to the third and quite possibly final CrossingsCon in Montréal this weekend. Diane Duane was there, and I accomplished one of my remaining goals before the world ends when I got to meet her. At the con itself I got to meet old friends and new, stumbled into joining an impromptu filk choir, saw some local friends, ate quite a lot of poutine, and had a lot of ice cream. There is so much ice cream in Montréal, which honestly is one of the sleepier places I have deliberately traveled for a con--but the food was great and people were very friendly, which is always a bonus. (I always expect French speakers to be standoffish because of French people, but this is rarely the case outside of France.) I don't think I have ever seen so 70s a city as Montréal--it's screamingly obvious that almost nothing was built for about 30 years after 1976. They get points for making what they have fairly livable, but there's only so much that can be done with those kind of bones. I was also (foolishly) unprepared for how obviously the city is connected to the global Francophone sphere, which is to say, French media, pop culture, and even the way shops and cafes are laid out on the high street. It wasn't quite what I was expecting when I heard the city called the Paris of the North, even if that description is accurate as far as it goes. I was expecting Buenos Aires, the Paris of the South, but each of those are different aspects of Paris.
I took the train up from New York and, as train rides so often are these days, it was an object lesson in climate change--delays the whole way because of high water, of storm damage on the tracks, and as we went through Vermont, a flash flood warning because it was raining again, as I gather it has been raining for the past twelve months everywhere east of the Rockies. The wettest 12-month period in recorded history in the United States, and it shows no sign of letting up. I though the waters were high in November when I went to Pittsburgh, and again in December when I went to West Virginia. They're still rising, and entropy is running.
I took the train up from New York and, as train rides so often are these days, it was an object lesson in climate change--delays the whole way because of high water, of storm damage on the tracks, and as we went through Vermont, a flash flood warning because it was raining again, as I gather it has been raining for the past twelve months everywhere east of the Rockies. The wettest 12-month period in recorded history in the United States, and it shows no sign of letting up. I though the waters were high in November when I went to Pittsburgh, and again in December when I went to West Virginia. They're still rising, and entropy is running.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-06-25 17:00 (UTC)And I can promise there are absolutely tourist areas of Montréal where francophones are standoffish ASSHOLES to anyone they decide is the wrong kind of tourist. I'm glad you didn't run into them, but yeah, it's . . . totally there.
But also yes: Quebec as a province is very much part of Francophonie, as much as it is of Canada.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-06-25 17:32 (UTC)I may also have earned good will by replying to everyone in French before being forced to admit that my French is not usable. ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2019-06-25 17:53 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-06-27 07:28 (UTC)